In a vehicle having side doors at the fore and the rear, a center pillar connects a roof side rail and a side sill.
As a vehicle body side portion structure of a vehicle of this type, a configuration in which the center pillar itself is formed by a hollow metallic pipe of a substantially constant cross-section is known (for example, refer to Patent Document 1).
This vehicle body side portion structure uses a hollow metallic pipe which is formed into a predetermined shape by three-dimensional bending and to which quenching is applied with respect to at least a curved portion, as the center pillar. The upper and lower end parts of the hollow metallic pipe which is used as the center pillar are fixed to the roof side rail and the side sill by welding or the like.
In this vehicle body side portion structure, it is possible to maintain sufficiently high rigidity of the center pillar by the hollow metallic pipe. Moreover, it is possible to relatively freely bend the hollow metallic pipe along the outer surface shape of the vehicle body or the like by three-dimensional bending. Furthermore, it is possible to sufficiently ensure strength of the curved portion by applying quenching to the curved portion.